Uniontown hospice worker inspires baby doll donations for dementia patients

There’s something about cradling a tiny little baby in your arms.

It’s comforting. It’s soothing. It’s natural.

The feeling of seeing those sparkling innocent eyes and cute round face looking back at you is priceless.

Hospice worker Amanda DeGusipe of Uniontown set out to awaken that memory for women with dementia living in nursing homes, personal care facilities and assisted living residences throughout Western Pennsylvania.

A clinical liaison with Gateway Hospice based in Washington, Pa., with an office in Pittsburgh, she started the MaryBelle Baby Doll Project in May, where people can donate new baby dolls.

Courtesy of Amanda DeGusipe

Amanda DeGusipe (right), of Uniontown, is a clinical liaison with Gateway Hospice based in Washington, Pa., with an office in Pittsburgh. She founded the MaryBelle Baby Doll Project in honor of her late grandmother, MaryBelle Smith. People donate baby dolls for dementia patients.

She distributes them to dementia residents and others who could benefit from doll therapy. During the coronavirus pandemic seniors in these places feel so isolated because they haven’t been able to see loved ones.

“Seeing the severity of the isolation brought on by this pandemic, the day to day routine and any sense of normalcy was taken away from many patients, turning their entire world upside down,” DeGusipe said. “This is what inspired me to do the MaryBelle Baby Doll Project. We wanted to leave the patients with something tangible, something that would off them a sense of purpose and security.”

The idea came from remembering her grandmother, MaryBelle Smith from Point Marion, Pa.. She passed away in 1998 from dementia. She felt a sense of calm while holding her great grandbabies, including DeGusipe’s son Johnathan, and later a baby doll.

“When she held those babies, her whole demeanor changed,” DeGusipe said.

The goal was to collect 200 baby dolls. She reached 170 in the first few weeks and has delivered most of them to 23 facilities. She’s willing to take a baby to a person’s home as well.

Courtesy of Amanda DeGusipe

Amanda DeGusipe (right), of Uniontown, is a clinical liaison with Gateway Hospice based in Washington, Pa., with an office in Pittsburgh. She founded the MaryBelle Baby Doll Project in honor of her late grandmother, MaryBelle Smith. People donate baby dolls for dementia patients.

DeGusipe’s not stopping. Some people donated twin dolls for those moms of multiples.

She’s also collecting blankets and stuffed bears for men.

“To see these patients with these babies makes me cry,” DeGusipe said. “You can just feel the love they have not just for the baby dolls, but as they think back to when they were a mother.”

Courtesy of Amanda DeGusipe

The MaryBelle Baby Doll Project gives baby dolls to dementia patients in nursing homes, personal care facilities and assisted living locations. It was founded by Amanda DeGusipe, of Uniontown, a clinical liaison with Gateway Hospice based in Washington, Pa. She delivered baby dolls to Strabane Woods, Hawthorne Woods and McMurray Hills Manor facilities this week.

Doll therapy may improve comfort engagement and quality of life in dementia patients, DeGusipe said.

DeGusipe became a hospice nurse after the loss of both parents.

“Hospice is my passion,” she said. “It is a huge benefit to both the patients and families.”

It is through providing hospice care she teamed with partners McMurray Hills Manor, in Peters, and Zacharia Brown, an elder law and estate planning firm in McMurray with Pittsburgh and Florida locations.

McMurray Hills Manor director of nursing Magan Craig said the day they shared the information on Facebook there were calls from people asking, “How can I bring in a baby?”

“At first I was like, ‘What are they asking?’ and then I got it,” Craig said. “Just seeing the looks on the faces of the residents when they get the babies is far more touching than we ever could have thought of. They hug them. They love them and they give them names.”

People have brought dolls to Craig’s house.

“My husband will say, ‘I think there is another baby on the porch.’” She said.

Even those residents who don’t have dementia love the baby dolls, Craig said.

When Christine Brown Murphy heard about the project she was on board immediately. She’s a partner and attorney at the regional elder law firm Zacharia Brown. The firm donated dolls and money.

“This is a great cause,” Murphy said. “Amanda has a heart of gold. She knows what the residents need, and it is so important to take care of these people, especially during the pandemic. Times are so tough for them. Living with dementia it is hard for them to understand everything that’s happening. There is no better time than the present to help the most vulnerable in our society. We need to find ways to comfort them.”